LAS VEGAS—The construction industry faces many challenges—tight margins, complex projects, stressed supply chains, and labor shortages. Furthermore, the construction industry is made up of thousands of small and midsize subcontractors, which have historically been underserved by technology solutions and have historically found it challenging to share data in an effective way.
At the same time, the industry is undergoing significant transformation. Improved business management tools, mobile and wearable technologies, IoT sensors, AI, and data analytics are rapidly changing this industry. But small and midsize subcontractors have difficulty accessing all these innovations and the increased efficiency that comes with them.
However, that world is changing. The small and midsize construction market is now getting renewed focus, and this is where cloud-based ERP systems come in. Cloud-based ERP systems are easier to implement and maintain than traditional on-premises ERP systems, and one of the leaders is Acumatica and its Construction Edition.
The Construction Edition is a robust, cloud-based ERP solution, tailored for the complex needs of small to midsize contractors and subcontractors. At the core of its efficiency is its real-time field reporting capability, which empowers stakeholders across the entire project life cycle with immediate, accurate data insights. Acumatica touted recent enhancements to this industry edition at its annual customer conference in Las Vegas last month.
Acumatica’s Construction Edition has many advantages, particularly the solution’s real-time field reporting capability. Those features include:
What is the upshot of fully embracing real-time field reporting? Real-time data empowers all stakeholders to make informed decisions, leading to better project outcomes. Streamlined data capture and automated workflows reduce administrative overhead and increase productivity. These insights help mitigate project risks and optimize resource allocation, leading to cost savings.
Acumatica has carved a niche for itself in the construction space, but other providers have seen the opportunity and are chasing it as well:
Acumatica’s Construction Edition has built a strong foundation in the cloud ERP market. With its robust features, commitment to innovation, and competitive edge, the edition is helping small and midsize construction businesses build success for years to come. By tailoring its offerings to the specific needs of these subcontractors, Acumatica is positioning itself to capitalize further on this growth market.
For those unfamiliar with Acumatica, some background: The Seattle-based cloud ERP vendor developed an interesting way to cost-effectively address the needs of customers in certain industries by packaging its products into industry editions. Each industry edition marries Acumatica’s horizontal functionality (primarily financials, distribution, and customer management) with industry-specific modules, such as construction, manufacturing, distribution, and retail. A new industry edition is coming later in 2024: Professional Services Edition. Acumatica launched the Construction Edition in 2014; it and the Manufacturing Edition are the two fastest growing editions.
The industry editions are primarily sold through a network of VARs, which is an Acumatica staple. Acumatica’s customer count also includes customers of its OEMs, which private-label Acumatica as the core of their next-generation ERP systems for small businesses. The Acumatica ecosystem had a strong 2023. “It was our best year ever, exceeding all our targets and expectations,” Acumatica CEO John Case said at the customer conference.
“The work we’ve done over the last three years to create native industry editions of our product has been an incredibly valuable exercise,” Case said. “All of our growth is coming from the big industries like manufacturing, distribution, and construction.”
The many Acumatica customers that we have interviewed rave about the system’s ease of use. It has a reputation for an intuitive interface, requiring relatively minimal IT expertise for implementation and adoption. Acumatica’s industry editions are also highly customizable, allowing businesses to tailor the solution to their needs and workflows. One key factor in that regard is Acumatica’s commitment to open APIs, which enable integration with existing software solutions.
Regarding the topic of the year, Gen AI, Acumatica has long used “traditional AI” in its industry editions and will add more AI and Gen AI functionality in 2024. However, it is taking a decidedly slower and more cautious approach than many of its competitors. We asked Acumatica Chief Product Officer Ali Jani about Acumatica’s philosophy in this regard. Jani said:
“When it comes to decision-making, generative AI is not very good. You have to rely much more on traditional AI. A lot of studies show the way generative AI works is very similar to how our brain operates, but they haven’t been able to cross the bridge for decision-making yet. And that’s going to be maybe 5 to 10 years away, in our opinion, because it’s extremely expensive.”
The AI moves that Acumatica will make in this regard will always be based on customers and how they are using it, Jani said. “We’re not in a rush,” he said. “We don’t want to put features out that are going to get outdated a year later.”
Jani was blunt about AI when he was asked: What are you hearing from customers about AI?
“They don’t care about AI. They care about results. They don’t want to spend the time. You’ll get one champion at the customer client who gets excited about it, but he can’t bring everybody else along. And … they don’t want to do it themselves. They want it from the vendors they trust, but they want the vendors to ramp up that automation and decision-making. I think it will change. I think people are scared … especially with what’s happening with the media. They don’t trust their data, but they also don’t trust AI at all with everything that’s going on.”
Jani’s comment brings to mind the words of the late, great business-management writer Peter Drucker: “People don’t care about technology. They care what technology can do for them.”
By Tom Dunlap, Avasant Research
Avasant’s research and other publications are based on information from the best available sources and Avasant’s independent assessment and analysis at the time of publication. Avasant takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any error/omission or the accuracy of information contained in its research publications. Avasant does not endorse any provider, product or service described in its RadarView™ publications or any other research publications that it makes available to its users, and does not advise users to select only those providers recognized in these publications. Avasant disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. None of the graphics, descriptions, research, excerpts, samples or any other content provided in the report(s) or any of its research publications may be reprinted, reproduced, redistributed or used for any external commercial purpose without prior permission from Avasant, LLC. All rights are reserved by Avasant, LLC.
Login to get free content each month and build your personal library at Avasant.com
